Nothing like saying you are going to do something and then life happens and family comes first. I would have maybe posted this Monday or even yesterday if Doodle hadn’t been sick. She’s been coughing for several days. Running a low-grade fever a couple of times. Through all this I realize just how blessed we are that she’s hardly ever sick. So that’s why the tips are late. I know you’ll forgive me!

I’ve written, edited, and re-written this post a million times in my head. Every time I feel the need to preface it by saying you might not be like me and my husband may not be like your husband. I really hate to get into comparisons, so please don’t compare yourself to me because God made us all unique and similar. My official preface to this post would have to be, take what I say with a grain of salt and 3 cups of sugar. Not sure what you do with the salt, but the sugar will give you a good start to some southern sweet tea!

I’ve actually written some pretty good things in other posts about preparing for conferences — not just BlissDom. I have gone back and looked, and this one is a really good one … Maybe you click. Maybe you don’t. Seriously, go read it. I’ll wait {insert some upbeat, worshipful, inspiring music here}

Back? Good. Seriously stop stressing the clothes and whether or not you’ll make a friend. I don’t care who you are, you’ll make a friend. I say that with a lot of confidence because I know that if you’re reading my blog? You’ll make a friend or ten at BlissDom. I know some wonderful ladies going. Ones I wish I could hug their necks and listen to them talk all night. Some of them big bloggers, but they don’t know it — or at least they don’t act like they know it. Last year I wrote Angels at BlissDom and I think everyone is going to be back at BlissDom this year. So be on the lookout for those ladies. I know they’ll make you feel welcome.

Here’s another great post I wrote last year — What I learned about me at BlissDom. {insert more music}

Back? Ok, yeah. I know that’s a lot of reading. So you just want the highlights? Well, here are my highlights with another preface or ten — I’ve been working from home for 10 years now. I’m used to spending all my days interacting with people through email, messaging, Twitter and Facebook. Duck is not only my husband, he’s my best friend. We really enjoy going and doing things together and I don’t do the typical “girls night out” thing. Not only is he my best friend, he’s the worrier of the family, and generally he likes the standard schedule. When I’m gone? There’s no such thing as a standard schedule. So if you are anything like me, and/or your hubby’s anything like Duck — read along

• Pray. Start now. Pray for the travel. Pray for your family to survive you being gone. Pray for what sessions you should go to — what parties you should go to. Cover the whole thing in prayer. Seriously.
• Don’t stress the clothes. I don’t remember what anyone wore last year. DO pack comfy shoes. We didn’t have to walk a lot last year, but Opryland is considerably bigger than the hotel we were in.
• Know your bloggy purpose. If you don’t know for sure what your bloggy purpose is, keep these thoughts in the back of your mind while you’re there. Think on them. Once you know your bloggy purpose, decisions start to become a lot easier. Just writing for family? No ads. Writing about your interior design passions? No Ragu ads (tip straight from The Nester herself) or rather control your ads. Writing a frugal blog to help supplement income? Ads out the wazoo.
• Make some kind of business card with your name, email, twitter handle, and blog address (at a minimum). Even if you are just writing for family? You’ll make friends who you want to exchange info with and keep up with after BlissDom. Wanna be really cool? Include your picture. I’m horrible with names/faces and sometimes I wish I could see a picture.
• Look at the sessions ahead of time. See what fits into your bloggy purpose. Are you looking to become a better writer? Or are you looking to increase your income with ads? Knowing your bloggy purpose will help make the decisions easier. See a pattern yet?
• Schedule breaks for yourself. Quiet time. Short periods of time where you can refocus. I’m used to listening to music all day not hearing a gazillion conversations going on at once. It takes brain power to process that much information. Trust me. Don’t get overloaded. Take a break.
• Take a few snacks with you. I know there will be food there. I’m strange though — some of it honestly is a bit too fancy for me. Also sessions will inevitably run late no matter how well they are planned out. I typically need to eat *something* every couple of hours. When you’re used to working in the next room from your snack drawer, you might be a little spoiled. On top of that, if I miss that certain window of opportunity to get food — I get extremely a little cranky, ill and sick feeling.
• Let your family know when/how often you will be calling and then keep that time — no matter what. Even if you *just* talked to them 4 hours ago and don’t have much to say now — they may want to just hear your voice and know you are still alive. Remember, they are sitting at home with time on their hands. They aren’t experiencing the new stuff you are — meeting new people, going to exciting sessions, flying on airplanes, etc. Just do whatever you have to do to make yourself stop for a minute and call. This will probably sound like a no-brainer, but when you get there and take in so much information? Your brain may just disappear … or rebel … trust me on this. Setup alarms on your phone. Be sure you take into account the time difference (because your cell phone will automatically change to Nashville time!).
• Forgot to add my other tip — check out the Blog Hop here and add your blog. Get to know attendees before-hand!

I think some of the other posts you’ve probably read by now contain other good tips. What you haven’t read the other posts? Check them out! Link up your posts below and feel free to copy the code and put this on your blog!

Months ago when the tickets went on sale, I jumped on one. I was on the fence. There were some bloggy friends I would love to see again and some that I would love to meet. I wanted Duck to go with me — after all, he’s my cowboy. Can’t go to Nashville yet again without my cowboy!

So I put it on the calendar. As the weeks progressed, other things got added to the calendar. Like the Upward Basketball schedule. Duck and I are coaching Doodle’s team again this year. I really enjoy it, but our practices are on Thursday and the games on Saturday. Ok, I thought. I can miss one practice and one game. But Duck can’t. Not really. Oh, and Upward pictures are that Saturday. Hmmph. I don’t want to miss those too.

Then Duck’s on-call schedule was released. He put the dates on the calendar. Yep, he’s on call that week. So he’s really, double-y triple-y out of going. And that was the final feather that knocked me off the fence onto the side of not going. See, Duck’s on-call weeks are very stressful to him. I need to be here to run things. I need to be here to run practice and the game if he happens to be called into work.

It’s not that he couldn’t handle it. Seriously we are blessed with great grandparents that take Doodle and do what’s needed. But I need to be here. I’ve been praying for quite awhile that God would lead me one way or another — that if I go, He’ll work everything out. If I don’t go, He’ll work everything out. And He has. I have His peace inside me that I need to be here {see an obvious pattern?}. I’ve already sold my conference ticket to another Christian lady who said I was an answered prayer. While God was closing the door on me going — He was opening the door for her to go. Seeing as how the conference is now sold-out, I can see how He used me buying that ticket for His good.

Don’t get me wrong. I not only need to be here, I want to be here. Maybe I will meet ya’ll next year if the scheduling falls just right. I still have some advice I’m going to give ya’ll who are going and I’m definitely praying for all my friends who will be there.

Go enter my Women of Faith giveaways (ends today!) and I’ll be back tomorrow with the winners, and BlissDom advice!

From Thursday through Saturday, I spent time with many amazing women. We prayed. We listened. We talked. We worshiped together. We laughed. We cried. By the end of our time together, we were pumped up for God — ready to do His work. We were excited and ready to get back home to our families — to share what we learned, what we heard, and what we did.

Reentry is hard.

But many of us were dealing with things back home. When we stepped off the planes we had to adjust. We had to hold back. Perhaps the airport is not the right place to dump all of our enthusiasm on our families. Perhaps they were really thankful that we were home and wanted to share their stories instead of hearing ours. Perhaps we did or did not do something that hurt them or made them angry while we were gone.

Reentry is hard.

But they are often hard on themselves when they don’t see all these things happening on a daily basis. They are quick to observe all they are doing wrong and slow to appreciate all they are doing right.

– Power of a Praying Woman, pg. 36 by Stormie Omartian

This is me. To a capital T. I am hard on myself for everything I did wrong. When I look back over the weekend, there are things that I did wrong and things I did right. The ones eating at my soul are the things I did wrong.

Reentry is hard.

This morning I sat down with my journal and poured my heart out to God. I couldn’t even put into words some of what I am feeling, but I know God knows and understands what I need. I also prayed for the other ladies I met this weekend who are going back home to bigger struggles than I can even imagine.

Reentry is hard, but God is bigger than my problems.

Ok, so yesterday I said that it was the last day — well, I was wrong. The wonderful Molly Thornberg (who I met on Twitter — and she tweets for Women of Faith) thought it was a really cool thing for me to do this WoF Week. So she gave me some stuff to give away. Only when I went to pick it up tonight, I found out she gave me 2 of everything she told me she was giving me. How awesome is that?

I get to draw 2 names from the comments here and I’m going to leave this post up for a few extra days. I think I’ll draw the winners on Wednesday. Here’s the awesome package!

Natalie Grant’s Relentless CD SIGNED!!!

Women of Faith New Testament

Sheila Walsh’s Get Off Your Knees and Pray! book

Patsy Clairmont’s I Second that Emotion book

2 sets of note cards from DaySpring

All very cool stuff and a huge thank you to Molly for allowing me to give it away!

To enter:

1. Leave a comment below.
2. Tweet the giveaway and leave a comment here with the tweet url.

Remember to check out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5 giveaways!

I think I forgot to mention that this is a 5-day-week giveaway This is the last, and I saved one of my favorites for last!

It’s a Patsy Clairmont day! I absolutely adore Patsy and not just because she showed me God’s love. She’s a witty, funny, loving, awesome, inspiring speaker! I hope that I get to hug her neck at least once while I’m in Dallas. That would make my nerves settle down a bit.

I’ve got 3 things of Patsy’s to giveaway today.

Mapping Your Journey: Which way do I turn? and Ahoy Mate! What ship or ships are you on in your relationships are both VHS (you remember those right?) tapes of Patsy giving those messages.

Mending Your Heart in a Broken World: Finding Comfort in the Scriptures book

No one lifts our spirits better than bestselling author and inspirational speaker Patsy Clairmont, and no one can better help us find the spiritual glue to fix a “broken heart.” Honest, funny, and endearing, Patsy helps us face our fears by revealing her own: the depression and anxieties that once kept her a virtual prisoner in her own home. With practical truths such as “Five Lies to Do You In” and “Everyone Needs Walls,” and the astonishingly relevant scripture she found in the Book of Nehemiah, she reveals her road to recovery. Now others can follow it too as her warm words light up the darkness with the power of faith — and Patsy’s down-to-earth wisdom and guidance for daily living become the best “heart menders” of all.

To enter:

1. Leave a comment below.
2. Tweet the giveaway and leave a comment here with the tweet url.

Remember to check out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4 giveaways!